花と炎 - Hana and Honou
by HoshisamaValmor
Summary: The notion of mementos is new to Soujirou, but he has known what they are for many years. He just never had good ones. (PS: This has cats)


**Author's Note:** After getting an ask from arcadianwishdom on tumblr about memento headcanons, this idea came to mind and I thought it worth to be written down.

This one follows my other Soujirou stories (they're all independent but form a continuity between each other), particularly _'Hold on to your truth'_ and _'The Mighty Daimyo Kenji_ '. All you need to know is that during is wandering, Soujirou has been living in the Kamiya Doujo for some weeks.

Also part of my 5 boys tribute fics.

 **Disclaimer:** Still don't own Rurouni Kenshin and it's wonderful that since my last fics Nobuhiro Watsuki has announced the new chapters.

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There were two new inhabitants of the Kamiya Doujo. Or rather, two new friends that found comfort and safety in the Himura family, expanding the already considerable amount of members.

"Ah, I think those two are all about you."

"Areh?" Soujirou turned to Kaoru, waiting for her to finish straightening the hakama to dry.

"They're new around here, none of the other neighbours has seen them until a week ago."

The two sources of the subject were siting on the other end of the porch, apparently oblivious to the attention. One of the cats, the one with silky and shiny dark fur, was thorough and patiently combing the top of her head, soft paw carefully licked before brushing invisible dust time and again. The bright green of her eyes peeked majestically and deliberately while in her brushing, proving her awareness under the cloak of indifference. Her partner was a lot more conspicuous, and as if to prove Soujirou wrong in his assumption they were pretending disinterest, he turned his strikingly glowing yellow eyes in their direction. Ears pointy and sharp, he seemed rather fiendish.

Soujirou smiled.

He was sitting on the porch as well, watching over Kenji in his puffy bundle. The baby frowned distrustfully, gaze focused on the furry creatures and then moving to Soujirou when the young man tapped his fingers on the wooded floor. He repeated the tapping on his lap, calling the two cats near. It took a bit of insistency until the big cat stood and approached, followed shortly after by her partner.

"For lucky cats, they are exceptionally scary," Kaoru added while Soujirou patted the yellow eyed cat behind the ear.

"Scary? He's quite big, that's true, but they're nice."

"To you, yes. They destroyed a couple of things at a neighbour's house."

"Oh. Clumsy, then," Soujirou said, fondling the cat under the chin so his nose would lift and he would know they were scolding him. The cat was so concerned and regretful he life his chin higher, eyes closed and purred. The other cat rubbed her neatly combed head against Soujirou's wrist, whiskers tickling him and demanding attention to herself.

Kaoru attempted to approach to fondle her; she seemed like a friendly cat, and her fluffy fur was the human counterpart of catnip (the silly thought made Soujirou giggle), but the bigger cat snapped his eyes open and hissed sharply towards the invader. While Kaoru and anyone else would have instinctively jolted their tender hands away from the slicing claws, Soujirou didn't seem to have such reflexes. He kept patting the cat as if nothing happened.

"Kaoru-san is nice! You shouldn't be like that."

The cat purred back.

Kenji raised his small fist and waved at the furry creatures, thankfully safely away from them, Everyone knew what Kenji's innocent and cute baby waves meant, and the cats' temperament clearly did not need to undergo ripping of fistsful of fur to be irratated.

Kaoru was used to Soujirou talking to Kenji as if the baby could understand everything that was said (and sometimes it seemed so), but this behaviour was maintained when talking with animals, specially cats, which Soujirou was particularly fond of. For whatever reason, these two cats seemed to understand Soujirou in return, and it was frankly disconcerting.

Soujirou liked them a lot. But unfortunately, the cats' dislike for Kaoru couldn't be overcome by his request alone. Even he saw and admitted the animosity with Himura-san as well, even with little Kenji. And he didn't deny the reports of troublemakers told by the neighbours. Sanosuke got scratched in a sneak attack when he got home one day, and both cats immediately climbed their way up to Soujirou's lap in search for protection from a very angry (rightfully so) Sanosuke.

 _"What are those damn beasts anyway?! Bodyguards?"_

 _"They're stray cats," Himura-san had explained. "They come by at times to eat. But they're a bit capricious, that they are."_

 _"Well then stop feeding those little monsters! Or kick them away to some other neighbour."_

 _"They only eat what I give them," Soujirou had replied before Himura-san could continue._

 _Sanosuke had towered over him then._

 _"They why the fuck are-"_

 _"They don't break anything around here, and didn't hurt anyone."_

 _"They mauled me!"_

 _"-until now, that is."_

 _"Well, they like Soujirou," Himura-san added. The pair of black cats cushioned on both Soujirou's arms, purring lowly but curling their tails mischievously and staring at them._

 _"And I thought black cats brought luck," Sanosuke grunted under his breath._

 _..._

"Have you named them yet?"

"Hm?"

"Your cats."

"Oh, they're not- Hm, I see your point. But I haven't thought of names, no. I'm not good at these things."

Kaoru looked at the couple, two big black balls of fur seeming so innocent and adorable while sleeping cuddled on one another on the porch. They never even attempted to sneak inside to steal food or cause some mayhem, like the other poor neighbours had experienced. Never trespassed that line.

Kaoru had caught herself thinking about it more than once... Maybe if the cats had been hostile towards Kenji as they were to Kenshin and herself, she might have been less eager to even consider this, stopping the animals' attitude and insisting for them to leave, but as it was, it was a curious little thought...

"You know what a memento is?"

"Areh? No, Kaoru-san."

"It's a reminder of something or someone, to keep memory of them. As if to have a physical manifestation of them."

"Ah. That's interesting. I never would have thought it worth thinking about before."

Interesting. Memory and emotion associated with the memento subject, he supposed? An object from a certain time that served as remind-

"Oh! I've had a memento!"

"You did?" Kaoru smiled genuinely. She truly appreciated these moments of spontaneous emotions.

"But it was a bad one," he elaborated, his expression frowning softly. But he didn't seem unmotivated. He just didn't want to burden Kaoru now. It would feel like he was faltering all her kindness in the past weeks he had been staying here and was so thankful for. "Never gave it much thought. It was painful, so I pretended it wasn't there and hid it away."

Soujirou realized he was saying it in the literal sense - he _did_ hide the old wakizashi which shed so much blood - but was also talking about the consequence of that blood and pain. He pushed his emotions and deemed them useless for too long.

Kaoru seemed to know. Her smile was reassuring.

"You're very brave, Soujirou. I'm proud of you. Kenshin is too."

Soujirou blinked in surprise at the words. Gapping for a moment and not knowing what he should say, he swallowed and busied himself with the rest of the vegetables he had been helping Kaoru with.

"So a memento is like a treasure, isn't it?"

"Yes. And good or bad, they're important. Even if they remind us of something bad, or people that were bad... important, they can help and protect us. It's good to have them."

"Hm."

"So?"

"Hm?"

"Will you start thinking of names?"

...

Soujirou learned more about mementos when he felt at peace again. The safety of the Himura family, even baby Kenji, brought the needed order to Soujirou's mind, settling the despairing fears and resting his doubts.

The family helped him, packing some changes of clothes - mementos of all this precious time: a new yukata, a new gi, new hakama - and a bento box that smelled delicious from afar. It felt so different from when Soujirou started his own wandering years ago.

It felt like safety.

Someone cared for him here, and he had mementos of them to remember their love and acceptance.

And had mementos to remember where he had come from, and of people who cared and accepted him in their own way.

"Isn't it too heavy?" Kaoru asked, a motherly worry tone in her voice.

"Don't worry! I'm used to carry weight."

"Have a good journey," Himura-san said with a reassuring smile. "You can come back whenever you want to."

"We'll be waiting!"

The biggest luggage on Soujirou's back was a backrest contraption Himura-san had built and tied up tightly from canes and rope, adjusting on Soujirou's back like a backpack. Soujirou had smiled at the thought how it made him look like a wandering seller, and he was ecstatic to have it. Himura-san had made it in secret, as a present, and had even added a protection to prevent any unlikely fall.

The two intended occupants were standing side by side on Soujirou's shoulders.

"We're sure nothing will happen to you with those two with you."

The yellow eyed cat pinched his paw warningly on the cane support, hissing lowly. Soujirou giggled and patted him on the side of the neck.

"Thank you very much, to both of you. And you too, Mighty Daimyo-sama," Soujirou added, bowing his head to the baby on Kaoru's lap. Kenji had grown a lot in the past weeks - it was so clear now. The frown formed in the baby's forehead and he waved at Soujirou.

After allowing one more hair pull that left Kenji satisfied and the two black cats hissing like snakes, Soujirou bowed his head as low as he could without tilting the back support too much and promised to return.

"Hana, Honou, let's go."

His two living mementos purred, and accompanied Soujirou on his new journey.

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 **おわり**

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 **Author's Note:** Needless to say, Hana 花 means Flower and Honou 炎 means Flame.

I'm in a process of mental cleansing and so I know all the stories will have weaker writing and simple cliché plots, but I prefer that to continue like I have until now.

Thanks for reading, reviews are appreciated.


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